Henry VI (oct 1, 1422 – mar 4, 1461)

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The only child of Henry V and Catherine of France, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father's death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his maternal grandfather Charles VI shortly afterwards. Henry inherited the long-running Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), in which his uncle Charles VII contested his claim to the French throne. He is the only English monarch to also have been crowned King of France (as Henry II), in 1431. His early reign saw a regency council led by his uncle Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and Bishop Henry Beaufort (Gloucester's half-uncle) and the pinnacle of English power in France, but subsequent military, diplomatic, and economic problems had seriously endangered the English cause by the time Henry was declared fit to rule in 1437. He found his realm in a difficult position, faced with setbacks in France and divisions among the nobility at home. Unlike his father, Henry is described as timid, shy, passive, well-intentioned, and averse to warfare and violence; he was also at times mentally unstable. His ineffective reign saw the gradual loss of the English lands in France. Partially in the hope of achieving peace, in 1445 Henry married Charles VII's niece, the ambitious and strong-willed Margaret of Anjou. The peace policy failed, leading to the murder of Suffolk, one of Henry's key advisors, and the war recommenced, with France taking the upper hand; by 1453, Calais was Henry's only remaining territory on the continent. Queen Margaret took advantage of the political instability to make herself an effective power behind the throne, and increasingly was criticized by the king's cousin Richard, Duke of York. Starting in 1453, Henry began suffering a series of mental breakdowns, and civil war broke out in 1459, leading to a long period of dynastic conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry was deposed on 29 March 1461 after a crushing defeat at the Battle of Towton by York's son, who took the throne as Edward IV. Despite Margaret continuing to lead a resistance to Edward, he was captured by Edward's forces in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Henry was restored to the throne in 1470, but Edward retook power in 1471, killing Henry's only son and heir in battle and imprisoning Henry once again. Having "lost his wits, his two kingdoms, and his only son", Henry died in the Tower during the night of 21 May, possibly killed on the orders of Edward.

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